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What is the longest professional championship drought ever? [closed]

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In sports, a drought refers to instances in which an individual or team has gone through a lengthy period of time without accomplishing some goal. For a team, this usually refers to an extended period of time without making the playoffs or winning a championship. Droughts occur for a variety of reasons, from chronic mismanagement to bad luck. Some droughts are also popularly attributed to a curse.

North America[edit]

Droughts by sport[edit]

In MLB, the Chicago Cubs suffered a 108 year World Series drought from 1908 until 2016, when they defeated the Cleveland Indians. In turn, the Indians inherited the longest active drought, last winning the World Series in 1948. In the NHL, the longest current title drought is shared by two teams: the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have not won the Stanley Cup (or even appeared in the Cup Finals) since 1967, and the St. Louis Blues, who entered the league when it doubled in size the following season, and have not yet won the...

Which professional sports franchise has the longest championship drought after the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

The curse is over! The Chicago Cubs have finally won the World Series and 108 years of pain have gone down the drain. The drought that many thought would never end has come to an end. It wasn’t easy for the Cubs and they had to fight their hardest to come back.

After coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the World Series, the Cubs then blew the lead late in the game. Fortunately, Ben Zobrist came through and got the big hit to win the game for his team. With the Cubs winning the World Series, the Arizona Cardinals have the longest championship drought in professional sports.

palillitoarnold: Arizona Cardinals (NFL) you are on the clock Fox World Series: Game 7: Cub… https://t.co/bgoIhMijxj pic.twitter.com/7m9IF27FxT

The Chicago Cubs ended 108 years of misery on Wednesday night when they beat the Cleveland Indians in dramatic fashion in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, ending the longest championship drought in North American professional sports.

With their victory, the Cubs have passed the dubious torch to a team they used to share a city with: the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cards have never won the Super Bowl but did win two world championships, in 1925 (amid controversy) and in 1947 when they were the Chicago Cardinals.

The Cards beat the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21 in the '47 NFL championship game on their home field of Comiskey Park. They lost to those same Eagles in a rematch of the NFL title game one year later.

The Cardinals moved to St. Louis where they played form 1960-87 before relocating to Arizona in 1988. They came less than a minute of ending their championship drought in Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 before falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers...

Last week, the Chicago Cubs did what many believed to be impossible, bringing the franchise its first World Series title in 108 years, erasing yet another curse from history.

While not nearly as sexy, or well known, as the famous “Curse of the Bambino” the Boston Red Sox lifted nearly a decade earlier, the “Curse of the Billy Goat” left generations of loyal Cubs fans without ever seeing a World Series appearance, let alone a championship.

But as an estimated five million people attended Friday’s parade – one of the largest gatherings of humans ever – it was clear the weight had been lifted, only to be passed to another franchise.

In the other dugout of this year’s World Series was a team that has done its fair share of suffering – 68 years worth to be precise – in the Cleveland Indians.

With its last championship in 1948, Indians fans have had little to celebrate other than the franchise’s run of the mid 1990s through early 2000s, a seven year span that...

When it comes to professional sports, it’s all about winning. Not just winning games, but coming out as the only team left standing at the end of the season. Teams try to acquire the best players so that they can win trophies, but this can be challenging, particularly if you do not have a history of winning. Some teams have never experienced what it is like to emerge as champions in their existence, whilst some teams have tasted glory but spend decades re-chasing this success to no avail. For many of these teams, you shouldn’t hold your breath.

10. Tennessee Titans – 54 years

The Titans started out life as the Houston Oilers in 1960, and things got off to a flying start. They won the first 2 AFL Championships ever (1960 and 1961), and they would appear in the third but fell to the Dallas Texans in a historic double-overtime game. They joined the NFL as part of the merger in 1970, but these would prove to be more challenging times. Fast forward to 1997, the team...

The Chicago Cubs are currently playing the New York Mets for a chance to compete in the World Series. If the team wins this year, as was improbably predicted in the 1989 film “Back to the Future: Part II,” it would bring to an end the longest active championship drought faced by a major U.S. sports franchise. The last time the Chicago Cubs won a World Series was 1908.

While the Cubs’ drought is the longest, several other franchises have been disappointing their fans for decades. In fact, in the four major U.S. sports leagues — baseball, football, hockey, and basketball — 10 teams that have captured a title have gone at least 40 years since they last won it all. These are the professional sports teams with the longest championship droughts.

Click here to see the teams with the longest championship droughts.

This list only reviews teams that have won a championship title at least once before their long drought. There are, however, other decades-old franchises...

FILe - In this June 22, 2016, file photo, Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James, center, stands in the back of a Rolls Royce as it makes its way through the crowd lining the parade route in downtown Cleveland, celebrating the basketball team's NBA championship. Since the moment superstar LeBron James and the Cavaliers clinched the NBA championship with an historic comeback to quench the city's 52-year professional title drought, Cleveland has been celebrating like never before. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) syndication.ap.org

CLEVELAND (AP) — The confetti has been cleaned up. The party hasn't stopped. Always rocking, Cleveland's rolling like never before.

Since superstar LeBron James and the Cavaliers clinched the NBA championship with a historic comeback to quench the city's 52-year major title drought, Cleveland has been celebrating — and winning — at a startling rate.

With their Game 7 win in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers became the first professional sports team in Cleveland to win a championship in 52 years — ending what had been the longest drought between titles in professional sports.

That distinction now technically goes to the city of Milwaukee. A team from Milwaukee last won a title in 1971, when Lew Alcindor and Oscar Robertson led the Bucks to the NBA championship 45 years ago. The Brewers have never won a World Series (they lost in 1982), and the Bucks haven’t been back to the NBA Finals since ‘71. But we’re going to go ahead and count the Packers as a Milwaukee team, which gets the city off the schneid.

Editor’s note: Cities with no NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB titles were left off. Those include Charlotte, Buffalo, San Diego and Nashville.

So here they are: The cities (counting only those with two or more teams from the big four leagues) that are in the middle of longest championship droughts:

1. Cincinnati: 26...

After over 50 long, long, long, long, LONG years, Cleveland’s title drought is over. The Cleveland Cavaliers are champions of the world, and all the disappointments -- from the Shot to the Drive, from Jose Mesa to Johnny Manziel -- have been washed away. The saddest sports city in American can finally smile.

But now that Cleveland is happy, somebody must take their spot. Who will we mock when we need somebody to mock? Which city will end the sentence "Well hey, at least we’re not "XXXXXXX?"

We analyzed which cities have waited the longest for anything good to happen, and asked fans from some sad sports towns to briefly explain why theirs is the city deserving of pity. We also asked a Boston sports fan, just to annoy the hell out of you.

Please carry on the debate in the comments -- we want to know why you're sad!

(Unless otherwise noted, city arguments are written by Rodger Sherman)

Washington D.C., by Brittany Cheng

(MEDIA GENERAL) — After 108 years of waiting for another World Series ring, the Chicago Cubs ended the longest championship drought in major American professional sports history. Though no other American sports franchise has reached the century mark for years without a title, there are 10 teams that have gone more than 50 years without winning it all. Some of these teams have resided in more than three cities, but their trophy cases are devoid of championship hardware. Others have been competitive for decades but have been unable to claim a title for more than half a century.

Here’s a list of those 10 teams that have gone more than 50 years without a championship:

10. San Diego Chargers

Unlike some of these teams on the list, the Chargers have remained fairly competitive over the years, but the playoffs have been a challenge for the franchise. The Chargers have made the playoffs 15 times since winning their last championship 53 years ago when they were still...

In the interim they've had Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Lee Smith, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Sammy Sosa, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, Geovany Soto and a host of other greats that would take a full article to list.

They have also had the Billy Goat and Steve Bartman.

Since Game 4 of the 2003 NLCS, where they took an ultimately futile 3-1 series lead over the Florida Marlins, they're in the middle of a 9-game postseason losing streak, including Division Series sweeps in 2007 (to the Diamondbacks) and in 2008 (to the Dodgers).